September 21, 2004: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Service: Rocky Mountain News : Peace Corps volunteer Stephanie Kanan, who told of a girl in Kenya who was on the verge of being forced out of high school because her family couldn't afford the tuition

Averi Schaubman learned a lesson from her students, when all she was trying to do was impress on them that they have it a lot better than kids elsewhere in the world.

She read an e-mail to students at Cherry Creek's Joliet Complex, an alternative school, from Peace Corps volunteer Stephanie Kanan, who told of a girl in Kenya who was on the verge of being forced out of high school because her family couldn't afford the tuition.

Schaubman said she was hoping her students would realize they had it pretty good.

Duh. They caught that at first read.

The students cared so much that they decided to organize a bake sale all by themselves for Merceline Aballa, the student in Kenya.

"I had no idea they'd take this on as a community service project," Schaubman said.

It's part of the High 5's mission statement that they keyed into. The High 5's are also rules of behavior - respect, responsibility, success, positive expression and caring community. The last one extends beyond their school and into their neighborhoods.

"Living in America, we have such great advantages, like going to school for free," said Brooke Ramirez, who helped coordinate the bake sale with classmate Brittany Hooper.

They said they hoped to raise $100.

Both are 14 and freshmen at Joliet Complex.

"I've been a straight-A student since I came here," Brooke said. "This shows people we're not bad."

Bad? Better to say unselfish and compassionate.

One student woke before sunrise and walked in the dark to King Soopers to buy doughnuts for the sale.

"We do want to help people," Brooke said. "We love all people."

She baked chocolate chip cookies, a few as big as dinner plates.

Brittney recruited her aunt to show her how to make killer cinnamon streusel cookies.

In addition to the bake sale, the high school students started a spare-change drive.

"It started as a penny drive," Brittany said. "Now it's a coin drive, any kind of change."

Brooke's father, Robert, said he's proud of his daughter.

"She's getting involved," he said. "I'd rather have her doing this than not doing anything at all."

Brooke said she wanted to help because she thought of Merceline's hopes.

"How sad it is that they don't have the advantages we do," Brooke said. "How sad it is that dreams don't come true for some people."

Maybe that's why she and Brittney jumped up and down and screamed and high-fived each other when they found out the sale brought in $142 from their room.

And they did the same when they found out the sale in another room upped the total to $214.

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL InterviewPCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Rocky Mountain News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kenya; Service

PCOL1408829

.

Add a Message

This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.